European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) donors cumulatively provided more than €250 million for green investments in 2016, supporting the bank's Green Economy Transition approach, the EBRD announced on Wednesday.
According to the EBRD's statement, the two biggest contributors were the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) and the European Union (EU). They were followed by bilateral donors; Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Taipei China.
'In total, since 2006, donors have provided over €1.4 billion for climate finance, in support of the EBRD’s sustainable development model which now recognizes green as a key quality of successful market economies,' EBRD stated.
The bank noted that many EBRD countries, especially those from the former Soviet bloc, have suffered years of wasteful energy use and environmental neglect and some also face vulnerability to climate change.
'The EBRD regions’ average carbon intensity is almost five times higher than the EU average, and the level of energy intensity is four times higher,' it added.
The bank mainly works in South-eastern Europe, Central Europe and the Baltic States, Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, Central Asia and Southern and Eastern Mediterranean regions.
The EBRD launched the Green Economy Transition (GET) initiative in 2015 to promote investments with environmental benefits.
By Dilara Zengin
Anadolu Agency
dilara.zengin@aa.com.tr